


Project: First Love

by tehbyulteh



Category: NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), TWICE (Band), 여자친구 | GFriend (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Parents, F/M, Flashbacks, Neighbors, The 97s are parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:09:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14011875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tehbyulteh/pseuds/tehbyulteh
Summary: One day, it has come to Yoonoh and Jisoo's attention that their teenage son's getting crushed on by his childhood friend then it got to Seokmin and Yuna, that their daughter is crushing on her childhood friend , and it gives them flashbacks of war, or to be honest, the days before everything was Yoonoh and Jisoo, and Yuna and Seokmin.





	1. .1 how it began

# .1 how it started

 _“Leon, I heard stuffs from Tabbie.”_ Laurent, the second of the two Jung twins spoke up suddenly, essentially clashing his fork and knife on the china plate. He and his family are having their usual Sunday dinner in Racks, Laurent’s favourite steakhouse.

Leon continued slicing his steak, not glancing towards his twin, Laurent, his younger sister, Lorraine or his parents. “What about Tabitha?” He asked, referring to their childhood friend.

“She said Corrine likes you, you know.” Laurent chewed on the steak.

Their Mom raised a brow. “Corrine?” She threw a glance towards her husband. “Corrine is Seokmin and Yuna’s daughter, right?”

Yoonoh only nodded as he smirked. “Oh, how the times have changed.”

Lorraine, their youngest, raised a brow. She’s only a year younger than the twins, and she looks a lot like their mother, to be honest. “The _times_ have changed? What do you mean, Dad?”

Yoonoh chuckled as he glanced at Jisoo, not removing his smile. “Isn’t that right, Jisoo?” He joked.

“Probably.” She narrowed her eyes and she eyed her husband before taking a part of his mac and cheese.

“Ey, that’s low, Babe!”

Jisoo rolled her eyes. “Enough of the Corrine talk, the poor girl probably doesn’t know that you’re talking about her.” She immediately changed the topic and glanced at Lorraine, then at Laurent, then at Leon. “Okay, you three never talk without shouting, but how come Laurent and Leon used ad hominem with Sicheng’s son in a debate for hitting on Lorraine? Care to explain, boys?”

Laurent and Leon both gulped. Here goes their mom.

**

“So, Corrine likes Leon, huh?” Seokmin raised a brow and he laughed as he read his only daughter’s diary, which he cleaned up probably when Yuna asked him to. “Oh, god, this is so funny! I didn’t know my daughter was **_poetic!_** ”

Corrine, on the other hand, is fuming as she ran out of the bathroom and snatched the diary from her tall father’s hands. Luckily, she got her parents’ too tall genes, and her adrenaline’s already up the moment she heard her father read the first line in her diary. “Stop it!”

Seokmin playfully smirked. “So, you like Jisoo’s kid, huh?” He looked up to Yuna, who was turning on the DVD for their family’s cute movie night. “What makes Leon any different from Laurent, anyway, Dear?”

Yuna, Corrine’s mother, sat next to her husband on the sofa and Seokmin wrapped his arm around Yuna. “I know Leon’s a little taller, but he’s better in academics than Laurent. Laurent’s around 2 centimetres shorter than Leon, but he’s good in sports.”

“Leon’s nicer.” 16-year-old Corrine mumbled.

“What did you say, Corrine?” Seokmin clarified. “Anyway, this Corrine liking Leon is giving me flashbacks of war.” He mumbled a heavy breath through his cheerful smile and he glanced at Yuna. “Doesn’t it?”

Yuna nodded. “It does.” She crossed her arm. “Too bad I wasn’t there to watch the drama.”

Corrine raised a brow. “What drama?” She sat next to her mom. “Can I hear the drama?”

“No, we’re watching Pacific Rim.”

Yuna suddenly remembered something as Seokmin stood up to play the movie. “Which reminds me, Corrine,” She threw a glare to her daughter. “I heard from the kids that you nearly broke Toby’s nose, is that true?”

Corrine gulped.

**

“Fess up, geniuses, who’s the person who told my mom that I almost broke Toby’s nose?” Corrine furiously yelled through the laptop in their video call. “Come out to the pool, I just wanna talk.”

“You did, though!” Toby, the Chinese guy who’s busy stretching on-cam complained. “I can’t believe I got roasted on a debate—“

Laurent, who has his glasses on, cut him off. “For flirting with my sister, you’re very much welcome, _Dong Jiengchen_.”

“Shut it, _Jung Yoonjae,_ it was literally me ~accidentally~ slapping the volleyball before reaching her chest, dammit!” Toby showed up in front of the camera, with sweat on his face. “Anyway, I was roasted on a debate with some subtle ad hominem and after the debate I was punched across my face, no thanks to Corrine Lee, I believe.”

One of their friends, Matt, smirked as he looked up from his comic book to the camera. “You deserved Corrine’s punch, by the way.”

“Wow, Matt, aren’t you on my side?” Toby complained. Then he began counting the online cameras. We have Corrine who’s still pissed, Laurent who’s typing – or playing Overwatch while video chatting with them, Matt who’s reading a comic book, the other half-Chinese girl, Beatrice, who has her head on the table and Kathleen, who’s doing her nails. “Where’s Leon and Ria and Tabbie?” Toby asked.

“Leon went out to get some fresh air.” Laurent explained. Then he shrugged. “Actually, I don’t know, he and Lorraine fought about fries again, so yeah, there you have it, folks.” He slapped the table in anger, making Beatrice flinch and shoot him a dagger glare. “Dammit!”

“If you’re going to curse after playing, don’t play the damn game, you sore loser.” Beatrice heaved a heavy sigh as the friends heard Beatrice’s father yell from the outside of the room. “Got to go, guys, Xu Minghao heard me curse so now I have to go to sleep.”

“Karma’s a bitch, right, Bea?” Laurent asked as Beatrice put up a middle finger through the screen before shutting her camera. “Where’s Tabbie, by the way? Matt, don’t you live next to Tabbie?”

“Yeah but I’m not her sitter.” Matt flipped a page from his comic book. “Ask Corrine, she stays too long in the lobby, anyway.” Then he checked Corrine’s camera, realizing that Corrine wasn’t there. “She must’ve disconnected.”

When he said that, almost everyone checked the people in the video call, to find out that Corrine isn’t online at all. Toby checked his phone. “Her dad must’ve turned off the wi-fi connection. Her dad’s old-fashioned in that sense.”

Laurent also stopped typing. “Alright, listen up, folks.” Laurent got everyone’s attention. “I have a hypothesis.”

Kathleen’s eyes perked up. “Oh, you can make those?!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Can you let me finish?” Kathleen shrugged and motioned him to continue. “I think my dad and Corrine’s mom may have had something going on in the past.”

Well, that caught everyone’s attention. “What conspiracy theory are you building, man?” Toby asked, genuinely curious. “Did something happen for you to go Sherlock?”

Laurent nodded. “I sort of exposed Corrine and her crush on Leon –“

“You did what?!” Matt asked.

“God, please, let me finish!” Laurent complained. “ANYWAY, when Mom mentioned Corrine about being Uncle Seokmin’s daughter, Dad said, _Oh how the times have changed._ ” Laurent crossed his arms. “I’m not usually nosy, but the way he worded it makes me, indeed, nosy.”

Matt stopped reading his book, Kathleen stopped painting her nails and Toby began blinking, before Matt spoke up. “I actually ran out of comic book material, so should I share you my idea?” This time, it was Matt who got everyone’s attention. “Let’s start a project. **_Project: First Love._** ”


	2. .2 how it probably works

# .2 how it probably works

_“What are you doing?” A young, 14-year-old Jisoo asked the same-aged Seokmin as she slammed his locker at his face. “I know you probably hate me, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to splash **freaking lemon juice** on my chem experiment, you jerk.”_

_“I didn’t mean it, okay?” Seokmin answered flatly, and he opened up his locker and had it slammed on Jisoo’s face._

_Bewildered, Jisoo rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, jerk.” She stormed out of the hall and back to the classroom. She sat down next to Kim Mingyu, her best friend and confidant. The tall boy just watched his wide-eyed not-so-hormonal best friend run her hand through her hair in frustration._

_“Is everything –“_

_“No, it’s not, Mingyu.”_

_“Figures, you don’t act like that when you’re in a good mood.”_

_Jisoo tried to keep herself calm but she just had to burst. “I really want to, I don’t know, hit Seokmin **just once**.” She confessed._

_Mingyu raised a brow. “He’s an OK guy, though? He’s nicer than some guys, too.”_

_“Wow, he just splashed lemon juice on my chemistry experiment less than ten minutes ago!”_

_“That’s because Todd pushed him, Jisoo.”_

_Jisoo scoffed. “Whatever.”_

**

“Mom, Dad, we’re leaving!” Lorraine, the youngest of the Jung siblings yelled as she and her older siblings went out of their condominium unit, leaving Yoonoh and Jisoo alone in their home. Jisoo was working on checking some test papers of her students in a university she works in, while Yoonoh’s working on the next course outline, as he works in the same university as his wife. Jisoo’s in the Math Department, while her husband’s in the Department of Languages.

“Babe, what do you do when one of your favourite students failed your class?” Yoonoh suddenly asked.

Jisoo pushed her glasses and glanced at her husband. “I still fail them.”

“She’s failing due to her absences, though. I heard she lives two hours from the school, and she’s quite sickly, too.” He crooked his head. “What am I going to do about her, Jisoo?”

Jisoo began to sympathise with her and she sighed. “Just pass her, if that’s the case.” She sighed. “I was like that, too, remember? My professor was merciful enough to pass me.”

Yoonoh nodded and he moved next to his wife. He casually put his hand over her knee as she placed her leg on top of his. “You know, about Corrine liking Leon, the tables must’ve really turned this time around.”

This time, Jisoo put down her pen and paper just to frown a little, some loose hair of hers flowed to her face so Yoonoh pushed it to the back of her ear. “Did my Leon like Corrine for the tables to have turned? Baby, I don’t get **_anything_** about the turning tables.”

Yoonoh chuckled and shook his head. “Do you remember the story you told me when we first met?” Jisoo looked up to his face and nodded. “Didn’t you know that I decoded that story when you told me another story that seemed to match up?”

His wife furrowed her brows. “Uh, duh, I know you did. That’s why you began teasing me about the guy living on the floor below us, duh.”

Yoonoh gave her a knowing smirk. “So you should know by now why I call it ‘the tables have turned’ right?”

Jisoo furrowed her brows more, before realizing what he meant and ultimately slapping his thigh, quite hard. “Jung Yoonoh, you’re freaking forty-three! You sound like you’re twenty!”

“Teasing you is still fun!”

**

Laurent sat next to Tabitha, who’s at another serious level of playing Pokemon Black. “Tabbie.” He called her out.

“Not now, Laurent, I’m busy. The final boss is out there to end my Embour, and –“ Yes, her Pokemon finally died, so she finally glanced at Laurent’s deep brown eyes. “What is it, jerk, and why do you need me right now?”

“Have you heard about Matt’s new comic project?”

“Is it finally not a webtoon that involves us watching weird people drink eat and shit in a coffee shop?” Tabitha smirked as she crossed her legs, trying not to sound annoyed. “Well?”

“No, we’re going to ask our parents about their first loves.” Laurent gleefully stated. “I’ve always thought love was boring, but drama is never boring, man.”

Tabitha crossed her arms. “I know about my Dad’s first love simply because Mom still teases him about her, so is that cool, Laurent?”

Just as Laurent was about to speak, Matt entered the classroom with Corrine and sat behind Tabitha and Laurent. “Good morning.” Matt greeted them nicely.

Tabitha faced Matt. “So, Matthew Kim, new webtoon?” She asked.

Matt nodded. “Yes, actually, I made the outline of it already.”

Corrine raised a brow at them. “Matt, you have a new webtoon project?” She asked. “Are we going to stalk people into cafes again?”

Laurent chuckled. “No, of course not!” He beamed. “Go, Matt, explain it.”

“It’s called Project First Love, which refers to high school kids and their first loves.”

Tabitha raised a brow. “And your subjects are, may I ask?”

Matt created this eerie silence with his sly smile. “Our parents.”

**

It’s lunchtime, Leon and Kathleen both sat down on their usual lunch table with their friends. Leon sat between Beatrice and Laurent, to avoid mess from happening. Their friend group usually involves this. We have the Jung twins, **_Leon and Laurent_** **_Jung_** , the obnoxiously loud one, **_Tabitha Kim_** , who’s the daughter of their condo building’s owner, Kim Donghyuk, and she lives next to **_Matthew Kim_** , completely unrelated, as he’s the son of Kim Mingyu. They also have the prim, proper and quiet **_Maria Hwang_** , daughter to Hwang Minhyun. Then **_Toby Dong_** , as we know, is the kid of Sicheng. **_Corrine Lee_** , Seokmin’s daughter, **_Beatrice Xu,_** Minghao’s daughter, and finally, **_Kathleen Jeon,_** daughter to Jeon Jungkook. They are the nine friends born of different connections.

“Seriously, Bea, Laurent, you two have to stop it with the fighting. You’ve been on it for sixteen years now, do you know what I’m saying?” Leon complained as he sliced his boiled egg open and removed the yellows, and then passed it to Maria. Maria also sliced her boiled egg and gave the egg whites to Leon.

Toby had his legs crossed. “You know, you two should try to go on a date.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes and shot a glare towards Toby’s side. “And what? Destroy an entire venue?”

Laurent nodded. “I’d rather die than go on a date with her, thank you very much for the great idea, Toby.” He scoffed. “It’s like you and Leen going on one.”

Kathleen shot them a glare this time around. “Disgusting.” And she continued eating her food. “So, Matt. Tell us about this new Webtoon of yours.”

Corrine nodded. “I saw your tweet last night.”

Matthew narrowed his eyes. “You live below me.”

“You could’ve knocked.”

“You could’ve called.”

Tabitha slammed her chopsticks on the table to shut them both up. “You guys do know that we live in **_one same condominium building,_** right?”

They chorused, “Yes.”

“So, what’s the Webtoon, again?” Kathleen asked, the second time around.

“It’s titled ‘Project: First Love’. And it talks about first loves.”

“Obviously.” The rest of them chorused,

“Jeez, you guys never let me finish, don’t you?” He stashed a piece of maki in his mouth. “We need to know the connections between our parents.” Matthew declared, which got stares from his friends.

Leon began. “We know my mom is best friends with your dad.”

“And my dad is best friends with Matt’s dad.” Corrine added.

“And my mom is best friends with Mrs. Jung.” Tabitha completed.

Matthew bought out his sketch pad and wrote names and their connections. “So Park Jisoo is best friends with Kim Mingyu, who’s best friends with Lee Seokmin and Nam Dawon’s best friend is Park Jisoo. Is that it?” he finished writing down their parents’ names and he slid the sketchbook on the table. Laurent picked up the sketchbook from the table and took the sharpie from Matthew.

“So we know my dad and Toby’s dad are bffs.” He added then he began counting down people before glancing at Toby. “Toby, where did your mom graduate high school?”

“The same school as your mom.”

Then Laurent began encircling names in the paper. He crooked his head. “Then at least eight people went to the same school? Toby’s mom, our mom, Matt’s parents, Bea’s dad, Corrine’s dad, Tabbie’s mom and Ria’s mom.”

“Then where do Kathleen’s parents fall into? They didn’t go to the same school as our parents.” Maria asked cautiously.

“My dad went to the same university as Mrs. Jung.” Kathleen concluded. “They were colleagues.”

Laurent nodded and glanced at the sketchbook again. “I think we need to venn diagram this.”

“Don’t you need a brain to do that?” Beatrice asked, mockingly.

“Shut it, Bea.”

**

Mingyu picked up his car keys from the desk as he dashed out of the master’s bedroom. Not forgetting to say goodbye to his wife, who’s making food for the dogs. Mingyu’s tall, muscular and quite tanned. He’s a geologist for an construction firm nearby. “Chae, I’m leaving!”

Chaeyeon, Mingyu’s wife who’s absolutely beautiful, even to youngsters, came out to greet her husband goodbye. Come to think of it, Matthew looks like a teenage version of his father except for his skin. “I’ll see you at dinner?”

Mingyu stopped before leaving. “Maybe not, we’re treating the rookies out for a drink. Please don’t wait up for me, dear.”

Chaeyeon nodded and went back to making dog food. Chaeyeon’s an on-call surgeon, and she only goes to work when necessary, since Mingyu’s family is a little too traditional. She goes to work, but she doesn’t tell her in-laws. Mingyu is okay with her working since Matthew is already sixteen, but her in-laws aren’t.

Chaeyeon finished making dog food, so the next thing she needs to do is to take out the trash. She pulled out the trash bag and headed for the elevator. When the elevator opened, to her surprise, Jisoo, one of the people living above her was in it, also with a trash bag on her hand. Jisoo’s really pretty, too. She has wide eyes and a wealthy-looking face. To be real, Jisoo’s born a silver spoon, so her face matches her stand in life. “Oh, it’s Chaeyeon!” She greeted with a smile as Chaeyeon also entered the elevator. “It’s been a while!” Jisoo greeted.

“Yes, it has.” Chaeyeon crooked her head as she noticed that Jisoo has a bun on, and it doesn’t look like she went to work, or is going to, at any case. “You didn’t go to work today?”

Jisoo nodded. “The university’s on a break, so both Yoonoh and I only have mountains of test papers to check upstairs.”

“Oh.” Chaeyeon acknowledged.

“How’s Matt, by the way? I heard he walked out on you and Mingyu last week.” Jisoo asked.

Chaeyeon began to shift her attention towards the garbage bag. “Teenage boys. You have two, yourself, Jisoo.” The elevator went open, finally leading to the recycling area where the condo tenants have to recycle their own trash. The two women began walking to the recycling area. ”Matt has some issues. With his twin sister abroad, he talks to no one these days. This is why I’m quite thankful towards the other kids.”

“Yeah, I heard they messed up in Meiqi’s cafe weeks ago for Matt.”

Chaeyeon chuckled. “Really, I’m thankful towards the other kids for these kinds of stuffs.”

“Well, Chae, with Melanie or without Melanie, Matt’s still a part of their friendship circle. They’ve been with each other ever since they were children so it’s a thing.”

Chaeyeon nodded. “Reminds me of your friendship.” She smiled a little. “Your friendship with the rest of them.”

Jisoo nodded back as they approached the recycling room. But as they approached it, Jisoo saw a familiar figure as she crooked her head. “Shoot.” She low key cursed as she realized who it was. “You know what, I’ll get my husband. I suddenly have to input grades in Blackboard Learn.” She left her garbage bag leaning on the pillar and she began walking away, leaving a confused Chaeyeon. Jisoo pulled out her phone and dialled her husband’s phone number. In two rings, Yoonoh picked up. “Oy, oy, oy, Jung Yoonoh, come down here and do the recycling.”

“I thought you were doing it today!” Yoonoh complained from the other side of the phone. “Why me, so suddenly?”

“Chengxiao and Chaeyeon are in the same room,” She pressed the up button for the elevator. “And I don’t want to get involved. Damn, it’s been twenty years, those two are still at it.”

“Do you think I’d want to get involved?”

“No, but it’s fun to witness the awkwardness, so get down here, you baby.”


	3. .3 histories

# .3 histories

“Hwang Minhyun!” An upset woman slammed the door open and walked across the room, dragging her suitcase angrily. Poor Maria was so startled, she stepped back from the door where she was supposed to enter. Toby, who lives adjacent to the Hwangs, stared at Maria’s startled figure before pulling her backwards.

“Ria, do you want to hang out in our house for a while?” He asked. “Well, Mom’s in the house but –“

She didn’t allow him to finish his question. “Yeah, let’s do that.” and she led Toby into his house, leaving her parents who began fighting the minute they saw each other.

“Mom, Maria’s here!”  Toby yelled from the living room as he dropped his bag on the sofa. “Maria, take a seat, open Netflix or something.”  He crossed his arms. “Just, do something.” Toby began searching the house, eventually furrowing his eyebrows when he realized that his mom’s not in the house. “Where did she go?” He glanced at the ‘attention board’ his mom put up, and he looked at the time. He realized that it’s time to recycle. “Ah, Mom’s probably recycling. Do you want something to eat?” Maria just shook her head and Toby nodded in full understanding. “Well, who’d want to eat after seeing that?” He’s used to this. It’s not a rare occasion to see Maria’s parents fighting. Sometimes, Maria just wants both of them to sign the damn divorce papers. It was heartbreaking upon realization at first, but as the fights were dragged on, Maria thinks it’s best for both of her parents to just live separately. Toby took a glass of grape juice and brought it to Maria who’s sitting in the living room.

Maria took the glass from his hands and took a sip. “It’s been a while since Minkyung came home, I wish she greeted me, too.” Toby, feeling sympathetic, held Maria’s hands before walking away alone to his bedroom to change clothes.

Maria couldn’t help but glance around the living room. She noticed that Toby and his family changed their family photo that was hung above the electric fireplace. Toby’s mother, Chengxiao, was a renowned gymnast who later entered the field of medicine, while Toby’s father, Sicheng, is an engineer working for an electronics company. Maria just couldn’t help but get jealous. Her parents are both lawyers, but she guesses that it’s not, in any way, an implication of getting a happy family.

**

_Mingyu stopped by the infirmary to check on Jisoo. She was sent to the infirmary after she complained regarding her stomach ache. He heard of this from Dawon and Chengxiao, who were equally as worried as Mingyu. Mingyu, though, went out of the school to buy digestive medicine. “Hi, Nurse Cooper, where’s Jisoo?” He asked, slowly blinking. “The eight-grader who was brought here because of lactose intolerance.”_

_“Ah, Park Jisoo!” The nurse exclaimed. “She’s in the second ward. Can I please borrow your ID so I can give you the female ward pass?”_

_Mingyu, unhesitant, gave his ID card to the nurse which she exchanged to a ward pass. In this school, male students aren’t allowed to enter the female ward and vice versa without a pass. He thanked her and walked to the female ward. As he approached the ward, he heard light snoring and he smiled a little as he walked into the ward she was in. He’s correct. The snoring came from Jisoo. The ward’s not occupied at all. In fact, it was just the middle schooler Jisoo who’s there. It was just the middle-schooler, lactose-intolerant, sleeping Jisoo. Mingyu tucked her in her blanket and looked at the records of what were administered to her. “Hycoscine and erceflora.” He took note of how many were the dosage given to her and he left the digestive medicine he bought on the bedside, smiling before walking away. When he left the ward, he suspiciously sees someone familiar._

_“Lee Seokmin?” He asked. “What are you doing here?” He glanced at Seokmin’s hands, which has the same digestive medicine he brought and probably a bottle of tea, Mingyu wasn’t sure. And considering that the only room through this hallway and the only person inside the ward is Jisoo, he immediately knew what he was up to. “Ah, are those for Jisoo?”_

_Seokmin shyly nodded. “I feel apologetic for accidentally splashing lemon juice in her experiment, and I found out that when she stresses out, she eats chocolate and I heard she was sent here because of that –“He stopped, finally feeling a pang of shyness come across his face. “You know what, please just give this to her for me.” He tried to shove the plastic bag to Mingyu but Mingyu pushed it back with a smile._

_“Seokmin, please bring it to her. She’ll forgive you.” He assured. “Go ahead.”He stepped aside as Seokmin shyly nodded and walked to the room._

**

“Seokmin, please bring it to her. She’ll forgive you.” An amused Yoonoh tried to cheer up a slightly-worried Seokmin as the two men, the one who just came from a convenience store to buy tomato sauce and another one who just finished recycling, began to chat as they were walking up on the stairs. Yoonoh only chuckled as he noticed Seokmin holding a plastic bag in one hand and a flash drive on the other. “I’m sure Jisoo will forgive you. Which of her flash drives is that, anyway?” Yoonoh asked with curiosity as Seokmin passed him the flash drive. Apparently, two weeks ago, Seokmin borrowed a flash drive from Jisoo that contains the robot codes for the new prototype Jisoo has been designing. The two are used to working together, anyway. Jisoo’s a part-time professor while keeping her name up in robotics design while Seokmin’s a software engineer. Yoonoh began to examine the flash drive Seokmin gave him as they reached the eighth floor – Seokmin and the Xu’s floor. Yoonoh stopped on his tracks when he realized which flash drive it was.

“Will I die on her hands?” Seokmin asked, quite frightened.

Yoonoh nodded. “This is....” He looked to meet Seokmin’s eyes, also frightened. “This is Jisoo’s Western drama flash drive.” He had his hands on his waist and he massaged his temples. “Ah, here comes another night of using uTorrent and downloading 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother.”

“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to corrupt the flash drive. Corrine’s desktop computer is filled with idols and actors, it’s probably virus-prone.”

Yoonoh nodded. “Lorraine’s like that, too.” He shrugged. “And to be honest, I think my boys are watching porn.”

Seokmin began to laugh out loud. “Leon and Laurent, watching porn? Corrine calls them ‘The most uptight men’ she’ll ever meet, she says they’re worse than Matthew, who’s Chaeyeon’s kid, in case we missed it.” He smiled widely.  “And besides, will Jisoo ever allow that?”

“You think? If Jisoo finds out **_if ever_** they **_are_** watching porn, she’ll cut off our internet plan so I wish the kids aren’t.” He crossed his arm. “I think she warned them about it when they turned thirteen so I think they’re afraid,” He sighed. “I hope.” Just at that time, Yoonoh felt buzzing from his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw that his wife’s calling him. “She’s calling for me. I’ll cover for you.”

Seokmin smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Yoonoh. As expected, you’re the one who can calm down Jisoo.”

Yoonoh smiled back and he began to climb up another floor. “Sure, it’s my job.” And with that, he vanished. Seokmin opened the staircase door before meeting two other doors. One is his family’s and the other’s his old friend’s, Minghao’s.

Seokmin was about to open his house’s door before it opened on its own – or maybe not. His daughter came out from the house, not in her uniform, which is weird because at this time, which is after dismissal, Corrine’s usually sleeping, but she’s going out in a pair of shorts and a tee, with a jacket over her shoulders. Seokmin raised a brow and he looked at his daughter’s eyes. Corrine definitely got her parents’ height, but she got her father’s eyes, but the rest of her face looks like her mother’s. Seokmin crooked his head. “Where are you going at this time of the evening, sweetie?”

“Toby’s, Dad.” She answered. “Maria’s up there in his house since Mrs. Hwang came back from a business trip and she’s already fighting with Mr. Hwang.”

Seokmin sighed heavily. “Minkyung and Minhyun won’t make up but they won’t sign the divorce either. Poor Maria.” He crossed his arms. “Well, ask Maria to come down for dinner if they still aren’t over it by dinner, okay? I’ll ask Mom to make extra and I’ll call Chengxiao to tell her that Maria will eat with us.”

Corrine nodded and smiled – the same smile her mother, Yuna, has. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Any time, my dear.” He gave Corrine a pat before she left for the elevator and he went into the house.

Yuna, who has both hands on her waist, tired of waiting for a bottle of tomato sauce. “Honey, I think you went through a farm to get the damn sauce.”

Seokmin smiled and gave her a hug, putting his chin on her shoulder. “Honey~ This day is so weird.”

Yuna shook him off and took the plastic bag from him and she headed to the kitchen. Seokmin didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms on his wife’s waist and he gave her a back-hug. “So, why is this day weird? You’ve been using Corrine’s PC and it’s not like it’s the first time you corrupted Jisoo’s flash drive, so why is today weird?”

He put his chin on her head and he pouted. “Yeah, but that’s not all that happened today.” He began. “I met Yoonoh in the recycling room, today, he told me he’ll back me up.”

“Good for you, then.”

“You won’t believe how awkward it was in the recycling room to the point that we used the stairs instead of the elevator.”

Yuna looked up to meet her husband’s eyes. “You took the stairs, why?”

“The people in the recycling room are Chengxiao and Chaeyeon, baby.”

Yuna blinked before cooking again. “Oh.” Then she looked up to meet Seokmin’s eyes. “It must’ve been a mess back then.”

“Baby, it was worse.” He sighed. “Who would’ve thought they’d live in the same condo?” Then he changed the subject. “Then apparently, Minkyung’s upstairs.” He let go of his wife’s waist and he began to walk out of the kitchen. “I’ll call Chengxiao first to tell her that Maria’s eating dinner with us.”

Yuna smiled a little. “Please do. Oh, dear, poor Maria. She’d have to deal with this mess for a long time.” Just as she was about to open the tomato sauce bottle, her phone rang from the apron, causing her to give the ladle to Seokmin to let Yuna answer the phone. “It’s Eunbi.”

Seokmin smiled. “Answer it.”

Yuna answered the call. “Jeon Eunbi, hi! What’s up?”

“Hi, Yuna, do you want to go for a drink later?” Eunbi asked. “Minkyung’s in town, she wants to drink.”

Yuna frowned. “She should look after Maria, first. Why does she want to drink?”

“Maria hates her.” Eunbi answered solemnly. “You know what, I’ll call the rest of the women up here, let’s meet at Meiqi’s cafe.”

Yuna can only heave a heavy sigh. “I’ll be down there after I cook dinner.”

“Same, or else Jeon Jungkook won’t let me live. I’ll see you.”

“Yeah.” Yuna and Eunbi ended the call and Yuna just gave the ‘ _look’_ to Seokmin. “Baby, can you finish this? Minkyung kinda needs us.”

Seokmin just nodded as Yuna pecked her husband’s cheek and she left to dress. Seokmin stared at the soup before stirring it. “So, Minkyung, huh? And just when we thought history won’t repeat itself.”

**

 


	4. .4 auto stellas

# .4 auto stellas

“No one can rewrite the stars, Kyung.” Dawon tried to sympathize with Minkyung, who’s on her third glass of wine ever since they got there. Minkyung, despite being almost completely drunk, well, you can’t find a shade of red on her face. She’s actually very beautiful. She has fox-like eyes, and her bangs covered her forehead. When they were younger, she’s actually the most beautiful in their friend group. Originally, it was just Jisoo, Chengxiao, Minkyung and Dawon. Jisoo’s the twins’ mother, Chengxiao’s Toby’s mother and Sicheng’s wife, and finally, Dawon’s Tabitha’s mother. After moving into this condominium, the four friends became friends with Chaeyeon, who actually went to the same school as the four but they never became friends in high school and Meiqi and Eunbi, who are their friends’ spouses. “I was also wondering why neither of you want to sign the divorce papers. You’ve been at it for a year now. Aren’t either of you getting tired?” She asked as she poured another glass of wine for herself. “You’re a divorce lawyer. You can easily fight for your divorce.”

“Dawon!” Jisoo scolded her friend. “You know she can’t do that, she and Hwang Minhyun has a kid, a teenager, at that.” Jisoo sighed as she sipped from her iced coffee. Jisoo’s an adult, the oldest in the group. She has large, brown eyes and her hair’s naturally curled. Among her friends, maybe she has the best body, except maybe for her height, so Dawon wins in that area. “And our kids’ friend, too.”

Dawon smirked. “Cut me some slack, Jisoo.” She massaged her temples. “I just had a fight with Donghyuk, too.”

Chaeyeon seems to agree with Dawon. “Well, everyone has a case with their husbands these days.” She threw a glance at Jisoo. “Maybe except Jisoo.”

Jisoo immediately gave her short rebuttal. “I have Yoonoh issues, too, guys.”

Dawon rolled her eyes. “ ** _YOU_** , having husband problems? _You and Yoonoh?_ Fighting?!” She chuckled. “Meiqi, pass me the wine, I can do another glass.”

Meiqi gave her the bottle. “Everyone has demons in their marriage, guys. Whether you married Jung Yoonoh,” She said, pointing at Jisoo then at Minkyung. “or if you married Hwang Minhyun, per se.”

“Should we do this, then?” Minkyung began as she stared at her friends one-by-one. “Please tell me your demons, girls?” Eunbi squeezed her hand. “Yoonoh, start it.”

Eunbi scoffed a little. “Kathleen calls you two the ‘couple goals’, so drop it in, perfect wife.”

“Cut me some slack, Eunbi.” Jisoo sighed and began her story. “I don’t know if you guys knew, but I let go some of my ideals for Yoonoh, and I,” She sighed. “—regret letting go of some. It’s immature, but --”

Chengxiao held on Jisoo’s hand, knowing her struggle. “It’s the same for me,” Then she glanced at Dawon, who’s now biting her lower lip in guilt. Dawon knows that she didn’t mean what she said, especially since she knows. These four, Dawon, Chengxiao, Jisoo, and Minkyung, have been together ever since the beginning, so to see each other struggling on their marriages is quite hard. Dawon sighed and held onto Minkyung’s hand.

“You girls know why I can’t let go of Minhyun, right?” The rest of the ladies nodded as Minkyung added, “I’d rather break myself than let my daughter go to college without a father.”

***

_It was the rainy season in school and the brave 14-year-old Minkyung was brave enough to run from the stop to the campus – great. She’s soaked. “What are you loud for, girl?” She soon felt the rain stop on her head. It’s a black umbrella, wearing the male counterpart of the uniform she’s wearing. She looked up and met the eyes of whoever it was –_

_“Minghao.”_

_“Good morning, Minkyung!” He smiled brightly as he passed her a towel. “Figured someone might need this.” They began walking together to get into school. In school, the 16-year-old Minkyung was said to be feared. She’s the daughter of the first female governor of their province, and it’s well-known in the school how she’s supposedly ice-cold and hard-headed, so not everyone has the guts to talk to her. Other than her personality, another part of her is quite exposed towards the public,_

_And that’s her parents’ ongoing divorce case. Her mother’s the governor, her father’s running for senator, and it sucks to have parents both in politics._

_But with her friends, she can forget about it for just a little bit. She and Minghao walked to their class and there, she saw a few people who she can call her friends, other than Chengxiao and Jisoo, who were in different classes. Luda, Mina and Dongmin. She beamed as she joined them in whatsoever they were doing before she got there. And she knows, that somehow, she’s happy._

_It didn’t take long, however, for lunchtime to come around. And as she expected, Mingyu, Chengxiao and Jisoo were all waiting for her at the hallway. “Oh, god, you’re wet!” Jisoo exclaimed and Mingyu gave Minkyung his vest._

_“Warm up.” Mingyu said as he led the way to the cafeteria, not forgetting to stop by their room to call someone – Lee Seokmin. Minkyung looked over at Jisoo in confusion. “Starting today, Seokmin’s gonna join us every lunchtime.”_

_Within a matter of seconds, Dawon also came out of the classroom and Jisoo beamed. “Dawon, too!”_

_Minkyung couldn’t help but stare at Jisoo. “Didn’t you hate Seokmin?”_

_Jisoo shot Mingyu a glare. “Well, we made an arrangement.”_

_“Let’s just eat, boo hoos, I’m hungry.” Chengxiao remarked, making them hurry._

_***_

“Okay, heads up.” Beatrice arrived at class, naturally tossing a bottle of iced coffee towards Leon and another one to Toby. She also brought milk tea for Matthew and the others. She took her seat next to Matthew and she began staring at him while he just raised a brow at her.

“What?”

“This is my seat, in the first place.”

Matthew sighed. “Don’t pretend that we’re not friends for twelve years now, Beatrice, I know that look.” He heaved another heavy sigh. “What do you want to tell me?”

“Do you have character designs for our parents already?” This, in fact, got the attention of everyone, even Leon who originally didn’t care since he’s the person of interest, here. Eventually, Matthew caved in and pulled his sketchbook from under his desk and he let it out on his desk.

“I only did my parents since I’m yet to see your parents’ high school photos.”

As Beatrice got a hold of the sketchpad and as she flipped to the next page, her brows furrowed, and so did Laurent’s. “Hey, Matt.” Laurent began. “We know your parents are crazy good-looking, but what’s with these?!” He pointed at his mother’s sketch. “Your mom looks too beautiful!”

Frustrated, Matthew’s eyes narrowed. “That’s literally how she looked at her photos, I chose the one easiest to sketch.” He took out his phone and showed the rest of his friends the photo he used as a basis. “Look, that’s literally how she looks.” Chaeyeon was in her highschool uniform, making the rest of them gasp.

“Wow – your mom..” Kathleen remarked. “This is crazy, did she drink from the fountain of youth or something?”

Matthew shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?” And he crossed his arms. “My agenda time; where are your parents’ photos as promised?” Then he glanced at Maria. “You’ll get a pass today.”

Maria smiled a little and gave Matthew her mother’s photo. Leon couldn’t help but look at her with worry. Corrine squeezed her hand and said, “Everything will be fine, Maria.”

Maria nodded a little and Matthew also turned away. He was never good with emotions. Beatrice however, looked a little stirred, something that Matthew didn’t fail to notice. _She knows something._ He says to himself, taking a mental note to ask Beatrice about it without Maria around.


End file.
